SURPRISE!!

For months I've been planning Shane's surprise 30th birthday party.  Ever since January I've been planning and plotting.  

I let myself "forget" the fact that Shane said not to do a surprise party for him...  ;)

About six weeks ago, I emailed everyone and their dog to invite them to his party. (His real birthday isn't until next week.)  Everything came together really nicely.  I decided to do pulled pork, but instead of 15 lbs like I should have, I got 30.  And cooked it all.

I wanted to have enough!

I tried fitting 5.77 lbs of pork loin into my teeny, tiny crockpot the night before the party.  

It didn't go well.

Cutting off the string around it.  It looked like a lobster tail.

It took some squeezing, but we got it all in....kind of.  :)

Long story short, I left the meat in overnight (I started it late at night) and woke up at 4:00 AM to find the juices in the crockpot had overflowed.  ALL. OVER. I spent an hour and a half shredding the pork, then had to Clorox wipe everything down, then mop cause it was still sticky.  What better way is there to start the day?

A few decorations

I special ordered the cake.  I wanted it to be Lord of the Rings themed and knew I couldn't make one that would look as nice as this one turned out.

Fairy elvish writing

Tilt your head to the right.  That's how the evil eye is supposed to look.

I need to get a better picture of Shane's face.

 He was honestly 100% surprised!!  I'm awesome!

We ate lunch (which everyone helped out by bringing stuff), then Shane opened some presents before we busted out the cake and brownies and ice cream.

Shane loved the cake!

It was really fun and Shane enjoyed himself!

P.S. Kelly: thank you so, so, so, so, so, soooo much!!  You were a huge help!  

I couldn't have done this without you!